RACE AND CHILD-WELFARE SERVICES - PAST RESEARCH AND FUTURE-DIRECTIONS

A review of child welfare research suggests that children of color and their families experience poorer outcomes and receive fewer services than their Caucasian counterparts. The relationship between race and t he outcomes of child welfare services is confounded, however, by the r elationships among race and other contributors to poor child welfare o utcomes. Child welfare researchers should take explicit account of rac e and ethnicity in designing and carrying out their studies. Service a pproaches intended to meet the special needs of children of color and their families should be developed and rigorously evaluated.